The present invention relates to an elastic joint for a motor vehicle suspension component, such as a shock absorber for example, and to a motor vehicle structure on which such a joint is fitted.
Conventionally, the joints of shock absorbers comprise an inner sleeve and an outer sleeve which are cylindrical, have the same axis and between which a sleeve made of elastic material and having the same axis as the other two sleeves is interposed and fixed. The joint serves to connect the shock absorber to the structure of the vehicle. In general, the outer sleeve is shorter than the inner sleeve. The inner sleeve is mounted on a portion of the structure of a motor vehicle by means of a screw and a nut. For this purpose, the structure has a mounting portion, in which there is formed a hole. A screw is inserted into this hole and into the passage in the inner sleeve. A nut, which is screwed onto the free end of the screw, holds, by clamping, the joint on the mounting portion of the structure.
Fitting the joint is a lengthy and tedious process because the maneuver of screwing the nut is, in particular, carried out blind.
Furthermore, in this type of fitting, known as a “cantilevered” fitting, there is a risk of the sleeve sliding along the screw or moving in directions perpendicular to the latter (shear).
Document EP 1 188 948 describes a motor vehicle shock absorber joint as mentioned above, wherein the inner sleeve is extended by a threaded mounting rod which extends axially beyond the outer sleeve and the sleeve made of elastic material. This mounting projection is inserted into the hole made in the mounting portion. A nut screwed onto the free end of this projection holds the joint on the structure by clamping. The mounting projection replaces the screw, thereby making fitting easier, if only by reducing the number of attached clamping elements. In addition, the projection also makes fitting easier by indicating the fitting direction of the joint to the operator.
Shock absorber joints can also be fitted in a yoked manner, that is to say that the inner sleeve is compressed along its length between the two arms of a fitting yoke.